There is an ideal Eboli : the French-Canadian with Armenian roots, Nora Sourouzian, has the lightness of the beginning and the dramatics for the great second aria . The spectrum of the feelings she is portaying really gets under the skin

Peter dusek
Online Merker

Biography

Hailed by Opera for her “warmly-rounded sound with ease and impact at the top” and “crystalline diction,” French-Canadian mezzo soprano Nora Sourourzian returns to her most frequently performed role, Carmen, with Theater St. Gallen and Palm Beach Opera as well as to the title role of Anita in La navarraise at the Bard Music Festival in the 2015-16 season. Last season, she joined Minnesota Opera for the same role and joined the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Carmen as well. She also returned to Wexford Festival Opera as Herodias in Salome, made her role debut as Eboli in Don Carlo with Oper Burg Gars, and joined the Festival St-Lambert for performances of Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle.

She recently sang Laura in La gioconda and Leonora di Gusmann in La favorita with the Saint Gallen Festival, the title role in Thérèse and Pénélope and Anita in La navarraise at the Wexford Festival Opera, and Zulema in Théodore Dubois’ Aben Hamet with Atelier Lyric d Tourcoing. An acclaimed international interpreter of Carmen, Ms. Sourouzian has performed the title role with Welsh National Opera, Den Norske Opera, Opéra de Québec, Oper Leipzig, Oper Köln, Latvian National Opera, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Latvian National Opera, Teatro Amilcare Ponchielli Cremona, Oper Klagenfurt, Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, Teatro Sociale di Como, and Opéra de Lausanne, both in Lausanne and on tour to Japan. Other recent performances include Charlotte in Werther with Latvian National Opera, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte with Teatro Massimo Palermo, Laura in La gioconda and Leonora di Gusmann in La favorita with the Saint Gallen Festival, Isolier in Le comte Ory with Oper Halle, Maria Callas in Daugherty’s Jackie O and the title role in Phaedra with Teatro Rossini Lugo, Myrtale in Thais with Théâtre du Châtelet, Sonetka in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Grand Théâtre de Genève, Aloés in L’etoile with Oper Zürich, and, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel with Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal, and Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust with Oper Klagenfurt.

While in the ensemble at Staatstheater Kassel she sang Idamante in Idomeneo, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Annina in Der Rosenkavalier, Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte. On the concert stage in Kassel she sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Wagner’s Wesondonck-Lieder, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Prior to joining the ensemble in Kassel, Ms. Sourouzian was a young artist at the International Opera Centrum Nederland in Amsterdam where she sang the title role in The Rape of Lucretia. Other concert performances for her include Zulema in Théodore Dubois’ Aben Hamet with Theatre Municipal Raymon Devos and L’Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie, the passion Golgotha by Frank Martin with Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été with Orquestra Clássica de Espinho, and Mozart’s Requiem with Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal.

She was also finalist in both the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition and International Competition of Wagnerian Voices. Ms. Sourouzian appears on the DVD recording of Jackie O by Michael Daugherty released by Dynamic.